


It's Always Better (Down Where It's Wetter)

by Swanqueeniest



Category: The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Femslash, Older Woman/Younger Woman, Rating May Change, only allusions to rape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-09 22:07:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10422837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Swanqueeniest/pseuds/Swanqueeniest
Summary: We all know the tale of a young mermaid desperate to become someone, anyone else. But perhaps there is far too little know of the sea witch with the power to grant this wish. Things are seldom all they seem, while both evil and love lurk in the places least expected,





	

On the coast, the sun sank slowly into its watery bed, pink and orange brushing the horizon. Below the water, the day dwellers settled into beds, and their night time counterparts rose from their holes and caves. At beginning of the Deep Water, a figure uncoiled and yawned into the descending twilight. Six dark tentacles, so inky purple that they seemed almost black, twisted around one another and underneath the torso of their owner. Where a human would have hips, the tentacles came together and lightened their color to form a stout midriff. While not overtly fat, the figure was undefined at the edges; soft, as if it had once been extremely fit but was now well fed. The torso transitioned into chest, where the upper body became decidedly inhuman. Where a human woman would have breasts, this body had two nipple-less mounds. Their purpose was not to produce milk like their human counterparts, for this was no mammal. Rather, evolution had designed them to store excess ink for emergency defense. 

The woman, if she could be called such, was a Cecaelia, the legendary cross between a human and an octopus. While the Cecaelia themselves would argue that they were separate from the two species altogether; designed by the gods, and given life by the ocean itself. This one was a female, and her name was Ursula. Most of her kind that dwelled in the pacific had the bright orange lower half of a pacific octopus, but Ursula’s coloring was singular. It was a trait passed down from her mother’s side, one which had caused her much grief in her life.

Ursula rose from her piles of anemone cushions, swimming toward the entrance to her home in the ribcage of a leviathans skeleton. She gazed up at the sky through the water, stroking the bone forming her doorway absentmindedly, dreaming of the time that she had swam freely under the sun. The sharp nails dug into the bone. That was time long past. 

She retuned inside and gathered up her hunting spear and satchel, leaving for the shallows as shadows danced through the thick kelp. Using her excellent senses in the water, Ursula advanced on a school of prey-fish who were moving in a huge frantic circle, attempting to find shelter without actually going anywhere. Ursula smirked as she heard their distress and felt the disturbance in the water, tiny murmurs of ‘Help. Night coming. Help. Must find safe. Swim. SWIM’ amusing her. Schools such as these, without a real leader, were vulnerable to predator attacks. 

Just as Ursula raised her fishing spear over her head, a mermaid rushed through the school, scattering the prey. Ursula’s jaw clenched. For a moment she debated stabbing the little idiot just for the disturbance, but decided that the last thing she needed was trouble in Atlantica. The mermaid turned toward the Cecaelia, red hair a fan around her, pale blue eyes wild in her white face.

“I'm so very apologetic, Madame! I was in somewhat of a rush and I seem to have lost my wits,” the young thing said, eyes darting the barren landscape in a frenzy. 

Ursula looked over her own shoulder, expecting to find the source of the maidens obvious nervousness, but they were alone but for the few prey-fish out in the quickly approaching night. Upon closer inspection, the mermaid herself was radiant. Under fed and pale like all merfolk in these waters, her tail missing several scales from malnourishment. Such features were common in the mermaids of Atlantica, given the king's maniacally possessive nature and the kingdoms’ regulations against top-skimming. As a result, most mermaids were pale as ghosts, their skin largely unkissed by the sun. 

“Who are you, child? It's almost the dark hours. Swim home. This is no time for your kind.”

The little thing seemed to puff up like a skinny blowfish, aquamarine tail swishing the sand, “I am no child! I've reached my 118th summer this year, no small age for a -- mermaid.”

Ursula looked at the young woman a little harder, finding it difficult to age her correctly. Merwomen developed breasts much later in adolescence, whereas the Cecaelea were born with their pectoral mounds. Males wore theirs bound to their chests to appear less feminine by merfolk standards. It was a practice that Ursula herself had never understood, just as she had never understood why merfolk bothered to cover themselves in the fashion of humans. In her opinion, the shell coverings that the merwoman wore simply made her appear more youthful and inexperienced. 

“My apologies, my dear. I don't mean to offend. But what are you running from?” Ursula eased herself a stroke closer to the twitchy mermaid, who had looked away under the Cecaelians scrutiny.

“My father is not a kind man. He keeps my sisters and I locked away. Safe and ‘pure’, to be better bartering chips for alliances and such.”

“You have nothing to fear from me, but the world is dangerous in the dark for one not suited for it. What is your name, sweetling?”

The mermaid's eyes flicked up to the dark blue eyes of the woman, startlingly deep in comparison to violet tinted skin.

“Ariel Poseidon-blood.”

Ursula went white as sand dollar, and used her ink to jet a short distance away. Her limbs transitioned from their natural purple to a nervous white-grey and back again in a physical manifestation of the Cecaelians unease.

“You are TRITON'S DAUGHTER. Triton, the merking who cast my people out of their cities. Is this some sort of trap? An excuse to hunt down the last of my grandfather's line?” Ursula began to back away in horror, “I-I must go.”

Almost before Ariel could open her mouth, the Cecilian was leaving in a whirlpool of purple. The mermaid gave chase, “Wait! Ma'am! Wait!”

Ursula didn't attempt to disguise where she was headed and rushed straight to her skeletal home and turned in the entrance. All her legs were planted underneath her, poised to launch her at the mermaid, hunting spear pointed menacingly. 

“Get back! Run back to your father.”

“Please, let me explain! I hate him! I don't know what you're talking about when you say he threw you out. But I can't see well in a dark. If it try to swim back now, the sharks will attack me even before my father gets the chance!” with this, the young woman broke down in tears.

After a moment, Ursula lowered her spear and approached Ariel cautiously, considering the genuine display of dismay and fear. “I did promise not to harm you, and I suppose that I won't. Come in quickly, dear.”

Ariel raised her head and followed Ursula into her home, “Thank you so much. I don't know how to repay you. What is your name? It doesn't seem right that you know me and I do not know you.”

“Ursula of Deepwater. Get comfortable on a cushion, Ariel. I don't use chairs, they're not well suited for Cecaelia.”

Ariel giggles and hiccuped through her lingering tears. As Ursula turned to gather some small crustaceans for a snack, Ariel grabbed one of her hands softly.

“Thank you for being kind to me. Ursula, can you tell me why a beautiful creature like you lives all alone out here?”

The Cecilian blushed from her chest upwards, tentacles tinted pink underneath. Ariel smiled at her and rubbed her thumb along the violet hand comfortingly. Ursula glanced up at Ariel’s eyes and quickly pulled her hand away from the petite grasp, the air between them suddenly changed. Where before the Cecaelia had seemed wary of the mermaid in a way that implied fear, now deep blue eyes refused to meet Ariel’s and the tentacles maintained their pink undertones. 

Ursula eventually left Ariel to sleep through the night as the older woman went back out to hunt. The entire time she was away, Ursula thought about the beautiful maiden lying in her bed. As she speared a fish, Ursula thought of Ariel’s long red hair. A certain piece of coral was reminiscent of an aqua marine tail. Several hours later, Ursula had speared more fish than she had on any night in recent memory, and fresh prey-blood tinted her lips

 

~*~ 

 

Ariel visited the dweller inside the Cecaelia of Deepwater almost every evening for the next several weeks. Ursula woke in the late afternoon, and would often find the merwoman painting or singing in the main cavern of her dwelling. At first the blatant disregard for her privacy was irritating to the Cecaelia. But Ariel simply pouted those bright blue eyes and Ursula’s anger wilted like the plucked water fringe that Ursula braided into long red hair. 

The first time Ariel ever saw Ursula perform magic, it was in defense of the young mermaids life. The two had been hunting on the innermost edges of the Deepwater, where the outerlands met the borders of Atlanitcan lands. Talking and laughing as they searched for prey-shells to store, marveling over the size of pearls that could be found in these waters. In hindsight, Ursula would realize that it had been foolish to parade around the fugitive princess in so close to her father's realm. From the Atlantic side of the border, a large merman spotted the two females as they lounged in the darkening rays of the sun. He swam quickly toward them, unnoticed by the heedless Ursula. 

The Cecaelia turned as Ariel gasped. 

“My lady? Ariel?” the merman, who had seemed ready to rush to the princesses aid, seemed puzzled.

“Glodren! How odd to see a palace guard so far from my father's castle.”

The merman squinted, “And how odd to see the company you have been keeping. Obviously your father's fears have not been misplaced.”

“What fears?”

“Fears that you have begun to be corrupted by filth such as this! Look at this worm. So uncultured that she even bares her purities to the world!” the blood orange tail of Glodren swished in disgust. His body, while still devoid of nutrition, was far more muscular than any merperson Ursula had seen in many years. 

While Ursula took these insults silently, Ariel was affronted, “How dare you! This is the way of her culture, and there is no shame in a beautiful form.” 

Ursula stared at Ariel, mouth agape, ‘She called me beautiful’.

It was as if the princess had slapped Glodren, his cheeks reaching the same hue as his scales, “My orders are to take you home to your father at once. Come with me.”

“I will do no such thing. I will return to the castle later this evening in my due time.”  
“Come with me now, I would prefer not to force you. As much as I may enjoy it,” the mermans smile turned decidedly lecherous. 

“I will not.”

Glodren reached for Ariel, attempting to grab at her arm, which started Ursula from her own mental wanderings. 

“Listen to me well, carp. You will not harm my Ariel. Leave now, or you will not return to your precious king with all your fins intact.”

Glodren bared his teeth, “Shove fire urchins up your beak, eight-legged whore.” 

He reached for the mermaid yet again, this time snagging her shell covering in his blind grasp, and ripping it off her. At Ariel's started cry, Ursula’s mind wounded in a red haze. She was only aware of the bind power in her hands and the target set before her. In an outburst of pure magic the Cecaelia threw the merman upward at a tremendous speed, through the ocean's surface and dozens of feet in the air. Once Ursula was satisfied with his height, she let go of the energy. The screaming merman hit the water's surface with a sickening slap and lay floating on the waves. 

Only then did Ursula become aware of the hand on arm and the soft voice calling her name. 

“Ursula, take me home.”

Ursula turned to the young mermaid, who was covering her chest with one arm, aquamarine tail shivering in a way she had not see since the early days of their friendship.

“Of course, my darling.”

She scooped the mermaid into her arms and jetted them off to her home, grabbing their satchels and Ariel's dropped covering as she went. By the time she settled Ariel into her sea anemone bed, the mermaid was watching her with huge, alert, solemn eyes. 

 

~*~

 

“You can do magic.”

Ursula pretended to busy herself with the organization of her living space, “Yes I can. So can you, sweetling.”

Ariel shifted until she was sitting up, tail bent, and arms wrapped around it as Ursula had once seen a human child wrap its arms around its knees. 

“You of all creatures know that it is frowned upon, Ursula. Only my father my preform magic. It is a horrible and dangerous thing. Only those who are strong enough to rule can wield that kind of power.” 

The Cecilian turned to face Ariel, pointedly not looking at her bare chest, “You of all creatures know that not everything your father says is truth.”

“Why are you doing that?”

“Doing what, sweetling?”

“You speak of equality and of being comfortable in one's own body, yet you will not look at me.”

“I….I will look at you if it pleases you, your majesty,” her tentacles tinged pink, as they were wot to do when Ariel said rash and improper things. 

Ursula let her eyes glance over the mermaids torso quickly, looking but not truly seeing. But she noticed that the soft mammalian mounds were bruised around the edges. Some bruises were faded, others fresh. On the right side, there was even a mark that seemed to have the imprint of teeth. 

“Ariel? What….?”

Ariel looked away, “I want you to see the legacy of Triton's daughters.”

Ursula lurched toward Ariel, hands gripping her shoulders, tentacles curling around her tail. Caressign and possessing in the same instant. Searching out other injuries, scales she had assumed to be lost from malnourishment now held another connotation. Finding bruised flesh under deceptive scales that did not show bruising in the same way. 

Anger boiled red from Ursula’s core, “Did your father do this to you?!”

“No. I am promised to a foreign dignitary. Custom means that I cannot be married for many seasons yet, but my future husband enjoys his conquests young.”

Ursula hugged the princess tightly to her chest, stroking her hands up and down the pale back. She noted that the mermaids figure had filled out significantly since their friendship had begun. The older woman did her best to ignore the sensation that having Ariel's body pressed against her own created. 

“Stay with me, sweetling. Never go back. Please.”

Ariel sighed, “I must return, darling.”

Ursula laced her hands through blood red hair, “I'm begging of you. Do not go.”

Ariel rocked them both gently, “I will stay for this night.”

They laid down, Ursula's arms releasing their grip, but her tentacles still wrapped protectively around the merwoman. Ariel tucked her head under Ursula's chin and fell deeply asleep. For her part, the older woman lay with eyes wide open throughout the night.

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a two-shot (I think, but goddess only knows). While I'm always a fan of traditional Disney and the Once interpretations there-of, I always like to add a little....depth. I'm also a believer that this is a fandom with far too little quality smut.


End file.
